[Tostitostelli]

Asking, or wanting to know where a part is made is just fine imo. It would be nice and forthcoming of Zach to publish that info, but he is not obligated to do so, as far as i know.
Assuming that stuff made in China / asia outside Japan , is of lower quality however, is just that, An assumption. There is quality stuff that comes out of China, just look at Audio-GD.

 

[lentoviolento]

truth to be said i don't think china equal crap. it is simply because everything costs less in china....

@Tostitostelli you are right, audio gd is an example, nfb1 is the best amp i have ever tried .

 

[zach915m]

Hey guys. The drivers are designed by us and are made in Hong Kong. We tried our designs with a plethora of manufacturers from all over the world including Europe, Japan and the USA. It is not saving us money to use the manufacturer that we use, we just don't have a yearly minimum as to how many we HAVE to buy. There was a well known US company I wanted to work with that refused to work with us because we couldn't as a small business guarantee them xxx amount of dollars per year and they didn't want to risk the proposition that we might not grow to that level quickly. It turned out I preferred the drivers built at the facility we ended up using anyways so it was a moot point.

We use suppliers from all over the world including Canada, USA, Europe, Mexico, China, Russia, Switzerland and Japan for our headphone parts. I do not segregate our supply chain based on any sort of locational bias, I try parts from a multitude of companies whether it be wood, metal, drivers etc etc and figure out the one that works best for our needs and our owners" needs. They are all built from engineering files generated by us at ZMF, and we make in house as many parts as possible. Edit: I would love to someday have every single part built in house, but we are currently a company of 6 people hand crafting the headphone at a rate of 25 per week. Someday as we grow we will Be able to do more and more.

Furthermore I have met in person the people I work with for almost all of our parts, and I can tell you that regardless of ethnicity and location they are all hard working genuinely good people. It makes me feel good to be able to help other small businesses from the USA and around the world by providing them with our business for a quality part.

It took me years to find the right suppliers and as a tiny business that makes a proprietary item that is assembled in the USA I do consider many of our suppliers sacred information as do many of the other small audio businesses that exist.

I try to provide as much value as possible for what we create, I know our headphones are expensive, but the only way we're able to make a small number by hand and not charge an astronomical price is by bypassing most distribution supply chains and selling straight through dealers internationally. This is not typical but it does save our customers who buy from us direct a lot of money.

I worry sometimes that I get ZMF in trouble by being so forthcoming about our headphones, but really there is no secret to making good headphones, you just have to obsess over each detail like anything else in life if you want to do your best. I'm always striving to be my best self and to make the best headphones possible. So let's keep it about that - the headphones, not any sort of bias based on experiences outside of ZMF headphones.

Hopefully this addresses all of the questions and thoughts here, @SHAMuuu definitely feel free to send me an email directly if you need anything further!

 

[SHAMuuu]

Thanks for the reply.

Because I am outnumbered, I need to defend myself. I made no claim to put down a country. If you look back I said in the context of transducer quality, how country of manufacture is perceived and also IMO.
I am all for giving credit where credit is due.
If the company that designed it did a good job, then they should be proudly advertised. Our speakers were designed by top engineers in Hong Kong. Mr A and Mrs B.
I visited the facility and I am proud of them. None of this is in any advertising material.
It is not mentioned because of perceptions in Audio Community. Made is USA is perceived as higher quality by the masses. Again, I never said any of the headphones sounded bad. Never. Not once.
Nowhere on ZMF it says drivers designed in Hong Kong. If it is good, advertise that as a positive. If the wood is from Ghana, that is awesome. Advertise it.

I only kept to topic of transducer specs, same stuff released by Focal. Because claims of speed is one thing, but specs help us the consumers make a more informed decision.
Details is important, yet nothing was answered.

If you wish to keep specs confidential, that is one thing. This is just avoiding what was asked.

Again, nothing personal. Just want to know about the specs.

* Also I am member here for many years, these messages warning me i will get banned is strange, b/c i only kept this to speaking about driver specs! Banned? We have to fear a ban asking about specs?

 

[zach915m]

Hey guys. The drivers are designed by us and are made in Hong Kong. @SHAMuuu definitely feel free to send me an email directly if you need anything further!

Nowhere on ZMF it says drivers designed in Hong Kong.]

Please re-read my post.

I think you're confusing design, engineering and manufacturing. As mentioned earlier, we design, engineer, assemble and tune the headphones, we are not a large manufacturing facility. So we design the drivers and all the parts in our headphones and find the best method, place and capability to make the parts we need.

There is more information throughout the ZMF threads on this site and other forums concerning our headphones and their parts. As mentioned you're welcome to email me directly as well if there's any confusion.

 

[SHAMuuu]

I am not confused at all. What is there to be confused about? i have business academic background. No confusion.

Focal for example says... ok our Utopia driver has a mobile mass of 135g. Our diaphragm is 20 microns thick of pure beryllium. Our surround is 80 microns. Our magnets produce this much flux. made in France.

All I asked. Is the ZMF version. You said they are made in Hong Kong.

That is all I asked so consumers can make an informed decision.

All the other posts took it off topic.

I am only speaking about specs.

I think i made it clear as mud.

If these specs are confidential (understandable), then fine.

This is webbing into some other topics, which I did not bring up.

if I get banned for that, that is insane.

 

[gLer]

I am not confused at all. What is there to be confused about? i have business academic background. No confusion.

Focal for example says... ok our Utopia driver has a mobile mass of 135g. Our diaphragm is 20 microns thick of pure beryllium. Our surround is 80 microns. Our magnets produce this much flux. made in France.

All I asked. Is the ZMF version. You said they are made in Hong Kong.

That is all I asked so consumers can make an informed decision.

All the other posts took it off topic.

I am only speaking about specs.

I think i made it clear as mud.

If these specs are confidential (understandable), then fine.

This is webbing into some other topics, which I did not bring up.

if I get banned for that, that is insane.

Zach said email him directly if you need more info or are concerned about confidentiality. How about you go ahead and do that?

 

[SHAMuuu]

Zach said email him directly if you need more info or are concerned about confidentiality. How about you go ahead and do that?

Because I am getting message I will be banned, I have to post here so people can decide for themselves if I am in the wrong for asking for driver specs.

Secondly, all consumers are entitled to that information if it isn't a secret.

Head-fi has a video with Focal talking about the drivers and the guy says all the specs.


Why is this so big deal? Unless he doesn't know the specs.

Read all my posts. I never said one thing bad about sound, design, or build quality on any ZMF product. Ever. I asked for driver country of manufacture and specs. All I got was Hong kong.

All I want is specs like Focal gave. MySphere gave. Audioquest gave me.

 

[heliosphann]

If only ZMF used more cast zinc in their designs to help make their headphones feel more "substantial".

A Beats joke for levity!!!

 

[SHAMuuu]

I am a member now 6 years and make jokes too all the time. I like the gifs but sometimes ppl get mad. But to get message scaring me for banning because I ask specs other companies give in one email.
I have never had this problem before.
I am wondering why this time, it is problem.
I sent email to many companies, and they give the info in one email.
Now I am getting warning for asking same question on a thread.

 

[zach915m]

Secondly, all consumers are entitled to that information if it isn't a secret.
Unless he doesn't know the specs.

The aeolus driver uses an n30 magnet with a pull force of 15.5 LBS, has a max input power of 50mW at 300 ohms for the best sonic capability, the diameter of the driver is actually 49.7mm and the membrane thickness is the thinnest of any of our headphones at 50 microns. We use custom moulded ABS for all of our drivers. Again if you need more info or have questions please send me an email!

I didn't answer this in my above response because it seemed like your prerogative was elsewhere, thanks for making it clear that's what you were asking!

For the record I have not Pm'd this user outside of this thread and have not threatened to ban him (nor do I have that capability) or had any other contact with them as far as my knowledge.

 

[gLer]

Because I am getting message I will be banned, I have to post here so people can decide for themselves if I am in the wrong for asking for driver specs.

Secondly, all consumers are entitled to that information if it isn't a secret.

Head-fi has a video with Focal talking about the drivers and the guy says all the specs.


Why is this so big deal? Unless he doesn't know the specs.

Read all my posts. I never said one thing bad about sound, design, or build quality on any ZMF product. Ever. I asked for driver country of manufacture and specs. All I got was Hong kong.

All I want is specs like Focal gave. MySphere gave. Audioquest gave me.

Just email Zach. I’m sure he’ll tell you what he can. You’re not going to get banned for emailing people. You might well get banned for trolling on this forum though.

Edit: I see Zach has already replied with the goods. Hope that settles it.

 

[Astral Abyss]

Thought you guys were talking to yourself, or a ghost. Turns out I've had a particular poster that likes stirring up trouble on ignore for quite a while. Works wonders.

 

[SHAMuuu]

Ok I will not post anything more. Please don't report me. I am not troll, i am here 6 years! Thanks.

 

[Zenith Street]

@Zenith Street Bro I also pre ordered mine from zeppelin and co but literally on the 29th Dec 2018 right before the promo end. I am gonna get mine somewhere around the 1st half of February. Have you received yours and did you get the limited edition wood?

I ordered mine on 30 Nov, standard sapele wood. They have not arrived yet, I was given an estimate of late January.